Look back in wonder

I'm writing this on New Year's Eve. As a good Scot that means I've been desperately tidying up ready for Hogmanay (tidying being something I do very little of on the other 364 days!). I'm not planning any New Year's resolutions - although I can tell you a grand way to keep them, if you're interested (see below).* Instead of looking ahead to my soon-to-be-broken and wildly unrealistic resolutions (anything involving a tidy flat or desk), I'd rather look back on the never-broken faithfulness of our wonderful Lord God. In our last church homegroup meeting of 2007, we had a prayer time where it was suggested that we each thank God for one thing during the past year. We prayed... and prayed... and prayed... No one was able to restrict themselves to just one thing - there was SO much to thank God for! For myself, one of the highlights was the time spent with Christian brothers and sisters in South Africa - being thrilled by their enthusiasm for serving God, and encouraged by their faithfulness to Him. Looking further back, I was privileged during the travels on my sabbattical to meet many Godly people - separated by thousands of miles, but joined by a mutual trust in the Lord Jesus. Many of them are also joined by a common desire to teach God's Word faithfully to children and young people. My prayer for them, and for you, and for myself, is that we will all be able to look back in wonder as we see how God has worked in the lives of the young people we serve, and then look forward in trust to all that He will do in the coming year.

Happy New Year to you all!

* I once resolved to read the whole Bible during the year. I then admitted this resolution to 400 people at an all-age service, and asked them to check up on me. I can confirm that this is a very effective way to stick to a resolution!!

'Such a great guy'

Recently I have been creating lists galore in preparation for our next Bible-Centred Youthworker Conference in January. As I've poured over the names of those coming - 130 so far - I've caught myself thinking (and sometimes saying out loud!), 'Oh, he's such a great guy', 'She's so lovely', 'He's a terrific bloke', 'He's so nice', 'I'm so pleased she's coming back' and so on... I got to the end of the list of 130 and realised that I'd thought something nice about every one of them. This isn't because I'm a sweet person who loves everyone (!), but because the children's and youth workers I've got to know over the past few years are such a terrific bunch. So, if you're one of them, thank you - it's a joy and privilege to know you.

Puzzled by Pullman?

I haven't seen the film yet, and it's years since I read the book - but I HAVE already had a number of circular emails from concerned Christians recommending boycotting 'The Golden Compass'. I'm always wary of mass boycotts. It's true that there are some books and films whose content means we want to warn our young people against them - but given that most of our children and young people are likely to be swept up in the razzmatazz of this film, aren't we better to engage with the issues rather than avoid them? There is a very helpful article on this in the December issue of Youthwork magazine, written by Dr Mark Stibbe (pages 8 & 9). It should soon be possible to get a copy of 'How Golden is Pullman's Compass?' from Mark Stibbe's website. If it's anything like his article, this talk should be good - I'm certainly planning to hear it as soon as it's available.

Is Christmas about Christ?

In a Sunday Telegraph survey of 100 schools, only one in five is opting to stage some kind of nativity play. One in three will stage a religion-free Christmas play or have no event at all. Why? 'To avoid upsetting pupils (and parents?) of other faiths.' The Telegraph article seemed quite balanced to me - you can read it here.

It's the readers comments about it I found fascinating:

• In 78 added comments, only three mention 'Christ' (and one of those is as a swear word!) and none mention 'Jesus'
• Most people assume that scrapping school nativity plays is an attack - but not on Christian belief. They see it as an attack on our national identity.
• Many of the writers assume that it is people of other faiths who are pushing to get nativity plays banned - and sadly some go on to say that these 'immigrants' should go back to their own countries and stop interfering in ours.
• The assumption made by nearly all is that the nativity play is all about tradition.

Where does this leave us, as we aim to teach the Bible's fantastic message about Jesus this Christmas? Since most people believe that we should continue to have nativity plays, let's grab that opportunity in any way we can - and then use it to help them see that the Christmas story isn't about tradition, it's about Jesus Christ, our wonderful, loving, rescuing King.

Teaching Narrative (again...)

I was discussing Bible narrative with a college lecturer at the weekend, and he told me his current approach. He gets his audience into a story by directing them to the narrator and his art:

'Can you see how he has grabbed their attention by making a shocking opening statement?'
'Notice how the storyteller is using his surroundings as pictures for his story.'
'Did you spot the cliff-hanger at the beginning? Now the audience will be hanging on every word waiting to see what happens next...'

This approach would be too complex for younger children, who need a simple, clear story. But for older children and teens this can be an engaging way to get them into the passage. It also helps them to see that the Bible writers chose which narrative to include, where to put it and how to tell it - all great clues pointing to the main point they are making.

The Harry Potter Effect

A few years ago a flurry of books came out giving a Christian response to Harry Potter. Some were extreme. Others lacked depth. Having read a few, I was most convinced by 'A closer look at Harry Potter' by John Houghton. He gave by far the most balanced and biblical view of the four books that had been written at that point. Now that the series of seven is complete, plus five films so far, John Houghton has taken a closer look at the complete series. Here are two quotes from his latest book, 'The Harry Potter effect':

'Harry Potter's world, while outwardly set in the context of Greco-Roman medieval paganism, is modern. It is important to understand this both in terms of the wizarding society and the spells that they perform, and that is why to suggest that Rowling is seducing children into the occult is so misleading. A much more powerful argument would be to suggest that, if anything, she is leading them into a humanistic self-reliance on their own choices, exercise of will, and technological ability - in short, a life that has neither recognition of God nor his grace.' (p84)

'As cultural gatekeepers we must know when to exercise caution and when to make an outright ban. Some material will never be appropriate because it is implicitly evil in intent and in content. Other material may depend upon the age and sensibility of the individual child. The fact that something is considered to be entertaining or 'everyone's reading it' is not in itself a sufficient justification for letting children participate.' (p114)

Do you consider yourself a 'cultural gatekeeper' for the children and young people in your care? Do you want to help their parents think through these issues and apply them biblically? If so, this book will stretch your thinking way beyond simple concerns about glamourising witches and magic. You may not agree with everything it says, but it will help you see the underlying issues and think through whether or not they need addressing in your group, family or church.

'The Harry Potter effect' by John Houghton is published by David C Cook. ISBN: 978-1-842913-62-8

Image imagination

I'm currently reading John Houghton's newly revised book about the Harry Potter series. More on that when I've finished it - but I was struck by a comment John makes early on. While discussing the concern some Christians feels about the use of imagination, he points out that we are made 'in the image of an imaginative God'. That got me thinking...

We only need to explore our world a little to see the exuberance of God's imagination at work. (How else can you explain the duck billed platypus? Or the fact that we've been given five senses to experience our world through?) I'm so grateful that our world reflects the ingenuity of our Creator. But what does it mean for US to reflect His imaginative nature? If we are designed to be imaginative - and so are the young people we work with - what impact does that have on what we do with them? CS Lewis imagined Narnia, and then used it to portray some aspects of Christian truth. Most of us don't have a series of best-selling books hiding away inside us* - but maybe there are other ways, which we haven't tried yet, of using our imagination to faithfully teach God's living Word?

* If I'm wrong, and you do have a series of best-selling books hovering in your head, please let me know!